Anwesa Mahanta

Sattriya dancer, choreographer

Belonging to the Vaisnava monastery of Assam, Sattra, Anwesa
started her formal lessons in Sattriya from her early childhood under the
guidance of the eminent maestro and a Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardee Bayanacharya
Ghanakanta Bora. Anwesa has been learning, researching and interpreting
Sattriya dance, music and theatre since two decades.

Born to Ms. MinatiChoudhury,a noted litterateur of the
region who also served in Doordarshan and Prof PradipJyotiMahanta, an erudite
scholar in the field of Cultural History of Assam and Northeastern India and
currently, Professor and Head in the Dept. of Cultural Studies, Tezpur
University.

Anwesa has been pursuing dance, not merely as a pastime but
as a chosen path of her growing and devotional journey. During this journey
over the years she has been trying with utmost sincerity to enlarge the
performance canvas and expand her repertoire constantly drawing resource
material from the vast literary corpus of the Vaisnava Renaissance of Assam.
She has been giving lecture demonstrations and presented papers in several
places and institutions with an aim to reach out to more and more children,
scholars and art lovers. The Pragjyoti International Dance Festival, a festival
of young classical dancers, first of its kind in Assam, is one of her attempts
through KALPA (A Society for Promotion of Literature, Art, Culture and Social
Harmony) which allow the young exponents to speak and share their thoughts and
ideas through dance and communicate to the youths the relevance of Indian dance
in the contemporary world.

She has thus carved a space in the Sattriya Dance world with
her understandings, research, interpretations and outstanding performances
drawing applause and appreciation from both the media and the art cognoscenti
and established an unfailing record of excellence in her performance career. Anwesa
is the Jr. Secretary and Festival Director of KALPA ,a
Society for Promotion of Literature Art, Culture and Social Harmony and coordinates
Pragjyoti International Dance Festival, a Festival of Young Classical Dancers
in Guwahati. Since 4 years she has been conducting and directing this
International Dance Festival which has earned national and international
accolades.

Anwesa Mahanta - Sattriya Dancer

Anwesa Mahanta - Sattriya Dancer

Anwesa Mahanta - Sattriya Dancer

Anwesa Mahanta - Sattriya Dancer

Anwesa Mahanta - Sattriya Dancer

Anwesa Mahanta - Sattriya Dancer

Anwesa Mahanta - Sattriya Dancer

Anwesa Mahanta - Sattriya Dancer

Anwesa Mahanta - Sattriya Dancer

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Anwesa Mahanta - Sattriya Dancer

Anwesa Mahanta - Sattriya Dancer

Career

A dedicated and promising young exponent of Sattriya Dance,
Anwesa Mahanta has received accolades from the art connoisseurs and scholars
for the grace and liveliness of her dance and the expressiveness of her
abhinaya.She has been an active performer since 2001, presenting Sattriya in
its solo form. Anwesa has also worked on many choreographic presentations of
her own under the supervision of her mentor. She has performed extensively
across India and also abroad, appearing at many prestigious dance festivals.

2012 -

·Series of
performances in various parts of Goa as part of IRCEN in October, 2012

·Sattriya Dance
Recital at Mysore in Central Institute of Indian Languages in July, 2012

·Sattriya Dance
Evening in Jagannath Temple, New Delhi as a part of Festival of Rath Yatra,
June

·Sattriya Dance
Recital at Sikkim Manipal Institute, on the occasion of SPICMACAY’s State
Convention, May, 2012

·Sattriya Recital
as a part of the Horizon Series organized by the Indian Council for Cultural
Relations, in Trivandrum, Kerala, May

·Sattriya Recital
at Kapeeleswar Temple on the occasion of Vasanta Utsav, 2012 in May

·Sattriya Dance
Evening at Payyanur organized by Folkland International Cultural Centre,
Payannur, May

·Evening of
Sattriya Dance organized by Public Information Department, Kannur in Kannur
Square, Kerala, April

·Performed
Sattriya Dance in Lasya Festival, 2012 in Pilathara, Kerala organized by Lasya
School of Fine Arts, Kannur, April

·Presented
Sattriya Dance Recital in Bhubaneswar on the occasion of Vaisakhi Mahotsav,
April

·Series of
performances in various parts of Mizoram under IRCEN, February

·Avanthika Space
for Dance – a 2 day dance festival in Trissur, Kerala, May

·Fraternity day,
an event to mark the celebration of World Dance Day, organized by Prasiddha
Foundation in collaboration with Kri Foundation, on 29th April,2009
, at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, April

·India
International Centre, New Delhi, in March

·6th
Annual Dance Festival of Impresario India in the series of From the Banks of
the Brahmaputra, with her Adhyapak in the India Habitat Centre and the CCRT
Auditorum, New Delhi, March, 2009, the India International Centre, New Delhi,
March

·India Habitat
Centre under the HCL Concert Series, New Delhi, January

2008 –

·SPICMACAY,
Virasat series with her Adhyapak in several educational institutions of New
Delhi, in November

·National
Devadasi Dance Festival, Bhubaneswar, in September, 2008

·National Convention
of SPICMACAY, Kohima, with her Adhyapak, in June,

2007 –

·National
Programme of Dance, Doordarshan, telecast August 26,

·Nritya Prabha,
organized by Directorate of Cultural Affairs, in April

2006 –

·SPICMACAY
programmes with her Adhyapak in
different institutions of Guwahati, October

·University of
Madras, Chennai, on the occasion of Professor V.Raghavan Memorial programme,
September

·Bharatiya Vidya
Bhawan, Bangalore,September,

2005 –

·Virasat 2005
in different educational institutions at Karnataka, Kerala and New Delhi under
the auspices of SPICMACAY in
October-November, 2005,

·Nritya Pratibha, a festival of Indian classical dances for the
young dancers by Sangeet Natak Akademi
in Bharatiya Vidya Bhawan, Chennai in August.

·Srimanta
Foundation for Culture and Society in collaboration with Assam Academy for
Cultural Relations, Guwahati in January

·Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards Festival 2002, with
her Adhyapak at Guwahati in
April

·India Habitat
Centre, New Delhi in February

·Navvarsh Mahotsav, Sankardeva Kalakshetra, Guwahati in January.

Cultural
Activist

Anwesa is a the Jt. Secretary and
Festival Director of Kalpa, A Society for Promotion of Literature Art,
Culture and Social Harmony and coordinates Pragjyoti Dance Festival, an
International Festival of Young Classical Dancers in Guwahati. Since 4 years
she has been conducting the International Dance Festival which has earned
national and international accolades. As a part of the festival, symposia,
workshops, open dance forums and seminars are also being organized. With Kalpa,
Anwesa has tried to reach out to the young minds and share with them an
exchange of ideas through the medium of cultural expressions.

Other Relevant Information:

She also
presented papers in National and
International Seminars and has given lecture
demonstrations and on various aspects of Sattriya art and culture, and with
ICCR, SPICMACAY, IRCEN, Sahitya Akademi
and also with other prestigious organizations in various places of the country
and also abroad. She is also invited for workshops to teach and interact with
students in various parts of the country

A dedicated and promising young exponent of Sattriya Dance, Anwesa Mahanta has received accolades from the art connoisseurs and scholars for the grace and liveliness of her dance and the expressiveness of her abhinaya. She has been an active performer since 2001, presenting Sattriya in its solo form.

Awards & Achievements

Anwesa achieved many awards, some of which are :-

*Anwesa Mohanta was awarded Scholarship from the Sangeet Natak
Akademi under the Project of Support to Sattriya Dance. The program involved
advanced training and a research orientation in the field of Sattriya Dance.
The 5 years of training under the scholarship scheme are also years of both
performance and performance studies on Sattriya Art.

*Awarded ‘A’ grade artist by the Prasar Bharati for her
performance in the field of Sattriya.

*Empanelled artist of the ICCR.

*Awarded Kalajeeva Puraskar from Vizag School of Theatre
Arts, Vizag.

*Empanelled artist of Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

*Empanelled artist of India International Rural Cultural
Centre.

*Awarded Junior Research Fellowship for her doctoral
programme in the area of Performing Arts and Oral Tradition in the University
of Delhi.

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